I have been “mistaken,” “misled,” “misrepresented,” and been “unaccountably in error,”
and am sorry if you have been offended

Tuesday, January 01, 2013

Happy New Year, Plus Something from the Supreme Court of Japan that Might Be of Interest to You

Happy New Year, folks.

Were you aware that the Supreme Court of
Japan provides English translations of its decisions? Right here. The
information comes courtesy of Paul Sracic, the expert that I referred to in the
previous post (he’s had my respect since he came out well ahead of the curve on
the 2010 US elections), has taken a strong interest in Japan-US relations since
he came to Japan as a Fulbright Lecturer. It’s yet another useful resource for
people who can’t read Japanese but want to go to the source. I don’t need the
Supreme Court translations for myself but it’ll be useful when I want to cite
decisions. More generally, I’ve been using the internet long enough to remember
when Japanese online resources were few and far between and I’m happy when any
institution makes that extra effort.

日本語ブログ

About Me

After graduation, Jun Okumura promptly entered what is now the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and stayed in in its ecosystem most of his “adult” life. Along the way, he had pleasant stops in an assortment of Japanese quangos (Japangos?), overseas assignments and government agencies. After thirty years, though, it dawned on him that he had no aptitude whatsoever for administration and/or management. Armed with this epiphany, he went to the authorities and arranged an amicable separation; to come out, as it were. He is completely on his own IYKWIAS, but he and the METI folks remain “good friends.” He currently holds the titles of “visiting researcher” at the Meiji Institute for Global Affairs (no, that MIGA) and counselor at a risk analysis firm that dares not speak its name. This gives him plenty of time to blog or make money on his own. His bank account says that he does too much of the first, and insists that he do more of what he calls “intellectual odd jobs”. He wants to be paid to write fulltime, or better, talk—where the easy money is—but that distinction has largely escaped him. He really should not be referring to himself in the third person; he is not that famous.